Queensland Sevens sides named ahead of National Championships at Ballymore

The Queensland Sevens teams have been named ahead of this weekend’s National Sevens Championships at Ballymore, which will run from Friday 7 December through to Sunday 9 December.

Queensland will field two teams in the senior men’s division, red and grey, while in the youth boys and you girls tournaments, the Queensland program has expanded to three teams, red, grey and white.

Queensland will be looking two defend two titles this weekend, chasing their third consecutive national championships in both the senior men’s and youth girl’s tournaments.

Preparation for the senior men’s sides has been assisted by the introduction of the Queensland Premier Rugby Sevens series, which has saw Queensland’s best domestic Sevens talent compete across four tournaments.

Head coach Cassidy Holland attended each event and has put together two strong sides, also bolstered by capped Australian Sevens players Joe Pincus, Jeral Skelton and Peter Lee.

Six players named in the Premier Rugby Sevens dream team of the series have been selected across the two teams - Corbin Kiernan (Bond), Hayden Sargaent (Bond), Charlie Tupou (Sunnybank), Connor Clancy (UQ), Neal McNamara (Sunynbank) and James Stannard Medalist (Player of the Series) Josh Coward (Souths).

The Queensland Grey side also features some regional representation, with former Youth Boys representative Sam Warner from Townsville Brothers earning selection, as well as Teachers Wests and Queensland Country Heelers scrumhalf Tom Vinson.

The Youth Girls sides have been largely selected off the back of the second annual Queensland Youth Girls Sevens State Championships held at Bond University in October.

From that tournament, the U17s Player of the Tournament – China Polata (Gold Coast) and the U15s Player of the Tournament – Faythe Manera (Gold Coast) have both been named in the Queensland Red side.

After her brother Josh recently signed a development contract with the Reds, Isabella Nasser, daughter of former Queensland and Wallabies backrower Brendan Nasser, has also been named in the Queensland Red side.

The Youth Girls program has also been bolstered by the presence of players who have already competed in the AON University Sevens, with Tarni Peepe, Kaitlin Shave, Taylor Fenton all having featured for Bond University in 2018.

The youth boys side features players from a wide range of schools, and will be coached by long serving Queensland Sevens coach Sione Fukofuka, while former Queensland Reds backrower Josh Afu, currently a QRU participation officer, has been named as a development coach. The team will also be bolstered by players who have already represented Queensland in 2018, as part of the U16s and Schoolboys programs.

Queensland Sevens high performance manager Lachlan Parkinson said: “We’ve had a really good lead into the National Championships across the three divisions.

“Premier Rugby Sevens has helped us identify players for the men’s teams, while the All Schools Sevens and Youth Girls Sevens State Championships assisted in identifying talent for both the youth boy’s and girl’s teams.

“It’s also an exciting year for Queensland with us set to field three teams in both the youth divisions, showcasing the strength of our pathway and the number of talented players we have in our system.

“We’ve worked hard to create pathway opportunities for Queenslanders in the seven-a-side format of the game and the expansion to three teams talks to the growth of our players and staff, as well as the quality of our program.

“It’s also exciting for us to be hosting the event at the home of Queensland Rugby, Ballymore.”

The 2019 National Sevens Championships will take place at Ballymore from Friday 7 December through to Sunday 9 December.